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High Fidelity Customer Reviews (43 - 45 of 81 Reviews)

nice background, weak foreground story
Are modern movie romances stuck in a rut? Even the best ones lately - and "High Fidelity" certainly fits into that category - seem to feature characters who find themselves mired in a kind of fashionable self-centered angst that has simply become too predictable and familiar to sustain much audience interest anymore. Infidelity, the fear of commitment, the never-ending struggle to find the perfect balance between sex and love - certainly these issues exist in exelsis in real relationships and these movies merely reflect that reality. Yet, how many times can one watch films built around these themes without eventually becoming as inured and jaded as the lost-souled characters who comprise their worlds? Could it be that - after years of carbon copy retreads - the romantic film genre has simply played itself out?

For my money, the modern romantic comedy reached its apotheosis way back in 1977 with Woody Allen's landmark masterpiece, "Annie Hall," undoubtedly the funniest and most keenly observant study of a modern day relationship. Since that time, virtually every movie romance has borrowed heavily from that earlier film's style, theme and substance. "High Fidelity" is no exception. In this film, John Cusack delivers a high-energy performance as Rob Gordon, a 30-something Chicago record shop owner whose life seems to have come to a standstill. Not only does he work in an environment guaranteed to keep him mired in the past - his shop sells vinyl records rather than CD's - but his most recent girlfriend has decided to walk out on him because of what she perceives to be his lack of ambition to move ahead in life. Confronted with yet another failed relationship, Rob decides to go back and contact several earlier partners and discover why it is that he always seems to be left out in the cold.

"High Fidelity" is at its most amusing and likeable when it concentrates on the milieu of the vinyl record shop and the minions who haunt it, and less interesting when it focuses on the romantic travails of its main character. Jack Black steals the film with his hilarious portrayal of Barry, a cocky music snob who would rather insult a customer whose taste he finds objectionable than make a profit by selling the said offender the execrable product for which he is asking. Screenwriters D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack and Scott Rosenberg astutely zero in on this strange esoteric world where a person's innate value as a human being is determined by the kind of music he or she happens to like. The scenarists and director Stephen Frears demonstrate a truly genuine affection for these socially backward losers who have convinced themselves that they alone hold the key to determining musical greatness and - by extension - the meaning of life itself.

It is when the focus in "High Fidelity" moves from background to foreground that the film loses much of its uniqueness and passion. Rob's romantic obsessions simply mirror those of far too many characters in recent similar romantic comedies. How many more self-absorbed, whining, commitment-phobic romantic leads can we handle? But "High Fidelity" borrows not merely its themes, but much of its style from "Annie Hall" as well. Like Allen's character in that film, Rob often turns directly to the camera and addresses the audience with running commentary monologues that are never quite as witty or profound as the filmmakers undoubtedly intend them to be. In another example of stylistic cribbing, Frears also occasionally interrupts the realistic flow of the action by intercutting fantasy sequences, one of which involves a guest appearance by none other than Bruce Springsteen himself (shades of Marshall McLuhan's cameo turn in "Annie Hall").

Frears has assembled a youthful, attractive cast for the occasion including Lisa Bonet, Sara Gilbert, Lili Taylor and Natasha Gregson Wagner. The fact that some of these performers have had very little screen time accorded them in the film obviously implies that they may have signed onto the project as a labor of love. The same could probably be said for Joan Cusack, but really must she and her brother co-star in EVERY movie together? I'm certainly not opposed to sibling devotion - but isn't it time they cut themselves loose from this rather strange tie that binds them?

Like so many films, "High Fidelity" tends to concentrate on its majors when its minors are so much more interesting. It is certainly a likeable enough film - but only when Jack Black is up-front and center stage does it ever really soar into comic delirium.

Very Good But Not Great
I'm a big John Cusack and Stephen Frears fan. They did a really good job on this movie but I can't say a great job. This isn't on the same level as Cusack's "The Grifters" or Frears' "Dangerous Liasions." Perhaps this would have been more of a personal hit with me if Cusack's character had been obsessed with music itself as a musician than obsessed with it as someone who listens to and sell records (yes, records not CDs). Some of the very best scenes in the movie are in his record store itself with his 2 employees and him. I've known people like this, who are absolutely obsessed about knowing everything that ever played in the music world, and they can be very funny. However, the real thrust of the movie is Cusack's character's failed love life. Going through his latest breakup, this time with his current live-in girlfriend, he reviews the 5 greatest romantic breakups in his life and revisits those girlfriends. Seeing how he is and was with these women, I was not surprised that his love life never worked out long range with anyone. I also had mixed reactions to Cusack's contantly breaking into first person narration before the camera, facing us and talking directly to us as the audience. Scorsese used this technique very well in "Goodfellas" with Ray Liotta but it didn't work as seamlessly with "High Fidelity" as it did in "Goodfellas." Nick Hornby, the author of the book, more successfully explored romance and the otherwise obsessed male with the film adaptation of "Fever Pitch," about a football mad Colin Firth who lets his sports watching addiction seriously interfere with his love life.

the guy we hoped lloyd dobler wouldn't become...
if you don't know lloyd dobler, then go watch "say anything"... that said, "high fidelity" is a great movie. john cusack plays rob, a guy obsessed with music and top five lists, not to mention figuring out why women keep breaking his heart. the movie is essentially a journey down his top five list of his all-time worst break-ups, which includes his just-barely ex-girlfriend, laura. the movie is funny and touching, and includes jack black, which means an automatic busted gut. the supporting cast is fantastic and includes "say anything" co-stars lily taylor and joan cusack, as well as catherine zeta-jones and lisa bonet (remember her from the cosby show?). if i could give this movie, 4.5 stars, i would. if you want the 5-star version of this story, read nick hornby's book. if you read it in a public place, prepare to humiliate yourself by laughing out loud. a lot. of course, you may be so absorbed that you don't notice all the people pointing and laughing.

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